Methods and Apparatuses of Unified Capacitive Based Sensing of Touch and Fingerprint

Abstract

The present invention describes methods and apparatuses for sensing touches and/or fingerprint images with an integrated device comprising, a transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array comprising a collection of capacitive sensing cells, a multi-resolution scanline driver circuitry, a multi-resolution column driver circuitry, and a readout circuitry coupling with said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said readout circuitry can transmit digital or analog output of selected capacitive sensing cells.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A touch-fingerprint apparatus comprising,
 a transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array comprising a collection of capacitive sensing cells wherein said touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array is optically transparent;   a multi-resolution scanline driver circuitry coupling with said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said scanline driver circuitry can select or activate rows of capacitive sensing cells;   a column driver circuitry coupling with said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said column driver circuitry can select or activate columns of capacitive sensing cells; and   a readout circuitry coupling with said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said readout circuitry can transmit digital or analog output of selected capacitive sensing cells.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein a capacitive sensing cell further comprising, a transparent capacitance sensing electrode and a transparent thin-film transistor wherein one terminal of the transparent thin-film transistor connects to the transparent capacitance sensing electrode and the gate of the transparent thin-film transistor connects to a column line or a scanline. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein a capacitive sensing cell further comprising, a transparent capacitance sensing electrode and two transparent thin-film transistors wherein the transparent capacitance sensing electrode connects to terminals of the transparent thin-film transistors, and the gates of the two transparent thin-film transistors connect to two neighboring scanlines. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein a capacitive sensing cell further comprising, a transparent capacitance sensing electrode and a plurality of transparent thin-film transistors wherein one of the transparent thin-film transistors acts as an amplification transistor wherein the capacitance sensing electrode connects to the gate of the amplification transistor and the sensed capacitance induced by touch or fingerprint is amplified. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein the multi-resolution scanline driver circuitry further comprising, a scanline decoder, and a multi-resolution shift register coupling with the scanline decoder. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus in  claim 5  wherein the multi-resolution shift register further comprising a multi-resolution parallel in parallel out shift register. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein the column driver circuitry is a multi-resolution column driver circuitry. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein the column driver circuitry further comprising, a column decoder, and one or a plurality of shift registers. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus in  claim 8  wherein the shift register is a multi-resolution shift register, or a parallel in parallel out shift register, or a serial in parallel out shift register. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein the readout circuitry further comprising, a collection of charge amplifiers wherein said charge amplifiers amplify the output signals of capacitive sensing cells, a selector coupling with the charge amplifiers, and at least one analog-to-digital converter. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus in  claim 1  wherein the readout circuitry further comprising, a collection of charge amplifiers wherein said charge amplifiers amplify the output signals of capacitive sensing cells, and a collection of comparators coupling with the charge amplifiers wherein said comparators convert the amplified signals into digital outputs. 
     
     
         12 . A method of sensing touches and/or fingerprints using a touch-fingerprint apparatus wherein said touch-fingerprint apparatus comprising, a transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array comprising a collection of capacitive sensing cells, a multi-resolution scanline driver circuitry, a multi-resolution column driver circuitry, and a readout circuitry, said method comprising,
 sampling capacitive sensing cells by selecting a collection of scanlines and/or columns;   configuring the multi-resolution scanline driver circuitry and/or the multi-resolution column driver circuitry to activate the selected scanlines and/or columns;   collecting output from the selected capacitive sensing cells; and   detecting touch locations and/or capturing fingerprint images.   
     
     
         13 . The method in  claim 12  wherein touch locations are detected, the method further comprising, sampling scanlines wherein the sampled neighboring scanlines are separated by a plurality of scanlines, and/or sampling columns wherein the sampled neighboring columns are separated by a plurality of columns. 
     
     
         14 . The method in  claim 12  wherein fingerprint image is captured, the method further comprising,
 determining touch location or touch locations by sampling a subset of capacitive sensing cells; 
 selecting a collection of capacitive sensing cells by choosing at least a range of scanlines and/or choosing at least a range of columns wherein the sensing area formed by the selected scanlines and/or selected columns contains at least one touch location; and 
 collecting output from the selected capacitive sensing cells by setting the multi-resolution scanline driver circuitry and/or setting the multi-resolution column driver circuitry; 
 
     
     
         15 . A computing apparatus comprising,
 an electronic display;   one or a plurality of transceivers;   a control processing element;   one or a plurality of electronic storage devices; and   a touch-fingerprint apparatus wherein said touch-fingerprint apparatus further comprising, a transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array comprising a collection of capacitive sensing cells wherein said touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array is optically transparent, and a touch-fingerprint controller wherein said touch-fingerprint controller can configure said touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array to detect touch locations and/or to capture fingerprint images.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus in  claim 15  wherein the touch-fingerprint apparatus further comprising,
 a multi-resolution scanline driver circuitry coupling with said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said scanline driver circuitry can select or activate rows of capacitive sensing cells; 
 a multi-resolution column driver circuitry coupling with said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said column driver circuitry can select or activate columns of capacitive sensing cells; and 
 a readout circuitry coupling with said transparent touch-fingerprint capacitive sensing array wherein said readout circuitry can transmit digital or analog output of selected capacitive sensing cells. 
 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus in  claim 15  wherein the capacitive sensing cell further comprising, a transparent capacitance sensing electrode and a transparent thin-film transistor wherein one terminal of the transparent thin-film transistor connects to the transparent capacitance sensing electrode and the gate of the transparent thin-film transistor connects to a column line or a scanline. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus in  claim 15  wherein the capacitive sensing cell further comprising, a transparent capacitance sensing electrode and two transparent thin-film transistors wherein the transparent capacitance sensing electrode connects to terminals of the transparent thin-film transistors, and the gates of the two transparent thin-film transistors connect to two neighboring scanlines. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus in  claim 15  wherein the touch-fingerprint apparatus further comprising a touch detecting processor wherein said touch detecting processor is programmed to,
 sample scanlines wherein the sampled neighboring scanlines are separated by a plurality of scanlines, and/or sample columns wherein the sampled neighboring columns are separated by a plurality of columns; 
 collect output from the selected capacitive sensing cells; and 
 detect touch locations. 
 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus in  claim 15  wherein the touch-fingerprint apparatus further comprising a fingerprint imaging processor wherein said fingerprint imaging processor is programmed to,
 determine touch location or touch locations by sampling a subset of capacitive sensing cells; 
 select a collection of capacitive sensing cells by choosing at least one range of scanlines and/or choosing at least a range of columns wherein the sensing area formed by the selected scanlines and/or selected columns contains at least one touch location; and 
 capture one or a plurality of fingerprint images with output from the selected capacitive sensing cells.